Kerala Local Body Polls: LDF Not Affected By Corruption Charges
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2020-12-18 06:23:26
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Although the BJP has gained on the whole in the Kerala local body polls (although the gains are not as big as the party has wished), one thinks the party will not be much enthused about the outcome. That is because of the simple reason that there has been a lot of churning and while the BJP has won more seats, it has lost too many seats where it had won the last time. Since the BJP made corruption its main plank in the campaign, it failed to catch the pulse of the people who were more interested in local issues.
In normal course, this might happen in many states and parties will not give a second thought to it as long as they gain overall. But for the BJP, Kerala is like the last frontier and the party will be alarmed at the loss of seats where it had managed to win last time. This clearly shows that while the people from those seats had supported it for a change, they were not satisfied by the performance of the councilors or have once again moved away from the party's ideology. Moreover, the BJP made corruption its main plank in the campaign, while the people were more interested in local issues.
On the other hand, the renewed support for the LDF, which has swept the polls, shows that the BJP and the Congress did not succeed in pinning the corruption charges on CPM insiders, including an IAS officer in the chief ministerâs office who was linked to the gold smuggling scam. In the general elections in 2019, the LDF was reduced to just one Lok Sabha seat. But by winning big in the local polls, the LDF, more particularly the CPM, has shown that local issues matter more in such elections and its record in handling the floods, the outbreak of Nipah in Kozhikode and Mallapuram district, the populist policies during the pandemic and the significant increase in social security pensions stood it in good stead.
